Stage Presence

Even for someone well-versed in drama, longtime national theater and performing arts hall executive Mary Bensel was shaken up a bit when she came to Sarasota 10 years ago.

The city of Sarasota hired Bensel in 2007 to run the city-owned Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The theater had been losing money for years, including a $1.7 million deficit in 2006 — when the economy hadn't tanked yet. Some area business leaders and groups had begun to question why the city was in the theater business anyway.

City officials tasked Bensel with one overarching goal: Turn the theater's multiyear deficit into a surplus. And do it fast. On what turned out to be the onset of a recession.